Greenville News editorial: City stepping forward on texting

The city of Greenville has become the latest in South Carolina to study a local ban on texting and driving. It is a welcome push in a state where the Legislature has stubbornly resisted passing a state law to rein in what is a dangerous, often deadly, activity.

There are at least 13 cities in South Carolina that have some sort of texting and driving ban in place, according to a recent report in The Greenville News; however, the state is one of just three that does not have at least some sort of a statewide ban in place, and lawmakers do not appear to be close to implementing one.

The lack of a statewide ban is a glaring failure on the part of our Legislature. Local governments should not have to take this step on their own, but in the absence of state action, a local ban by the city of Greenville is the best available option.

The city of Clemson was the first in the state to enact a local ban. That city's ban calls for a $100 fine for violating the ordinance by sending or reading a text when behind the wheel of a moving vehicle. Including court costs, the total fine is about $225, and officers can subpoena phone records if needed to obtain a conviction, with the records then compared to the time stamp on officers' dash cameras.

That ordinance seems like a good place to begin discussions on a ban in the city of Greenville.

Mayor Pro Tem David Sudduth said in a recent interview that one failure he sees in the Clemson ban is that the fines do not escalate on subsequent offenses. That is a valid point. Any texting and driving ban depends, at least somewhat, on self enforcement. Escalating fines give drivers an incentive to adjust their behavior after a first offense because the penalty becomes increasingly more painful for multiple offenses.

The city also should ensure that whatever texting and driving ban it implements is a primary enforcement ordinance. That means police officers would be able to pull over a driver if they see him or her violating the ordinance.

A secondary offense, on the other hand, would allow police to issue a citation only if the offense takes place coincident to some other violation. Such laws generally are toothless in terms of curbing dangerous behavior. Obviously making texting a primary offense makes it much easier to enforce and is more effective at changing drivers' behavior.

Those who say that banning texting and driving would not help improve safety need only look at South Carolina's primary enforcement seat belt law that took effect in 2005. The year the bill was passed, 69.7 percent of South Carolinians used their seat belts, one of the worst rates in the nation. Last year that rate was 90.5 percent, well above the national average of 86 percent for that year.

Texting and driving is exceedingly dangerous. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that drivers talking on a cell phone are 30 percent more likely to crash.

The University of Utah found that drivers using phones are equally as impaired as drivers who are legally drunk. The risks increase with activities, such as texting or reading emails, that consume even more of a driver's attention.

Sending a text message causes a driver to take his eyes and hands off the task of driving long enough to move the length of a football field. This is a potentially deadly period of distraction that endangers not just the driver, but everyone around him or her - passengers, other drivers and pedestrians. The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute has found that those who send or receive text messages while driving are 23 times more likely to be involved in a crash.

Sudduth said he hopes the city can have a ban in place by Jan. 1. The time line calls for a task force to come back to City Council with a proposed ordinance in a few weeks. That proposal would then be presented at a public hearing so city residents have an opportunity to provide input into the proposal.

Given the City Council's desire for broad support for a texting and driving ordinance, it would do well to listen closely to public sentiment on this issue. Nationally, there is generally broad support for texting and driving bans. That is likely to be the case in Greenville.

The city of Greenville, as the Upstate's cultural hub and one of South Carolina's most important cities, should lead the way on important issues. Given that the state Legislature will not act on banning texting and driving, City Council is taking the right steps to move forward on this issue. The early indication is also that it is doing this the right way, seeking a balance between a tough ordinance and one that will be embraced by this community.

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Greenville News editorial: City stepping forward on texting

The city of Greenville has become the latest in South Carolina to study a local ban on texting and driving.